


He Had His Reasons... And They Were Soooo Stupid

by Jaspre_Rose



Series: Getting What They Want [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Familial telepathy, Gen, More reunions, Reunion Fic, Rose Returns, Uncle Jack - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:49:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28956720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaspre_Rose/pseuds/Jaspre_Rose
Summary: This is a little reunion fic set after A Second Chance, but you don't necessarily have to read that story to enjoy this one.An intruder alarm goes off in Torchwood while Jenny is inside visiting her Uncle Jack. The Doctor naturally comes to her rescue and gets an unexpected surprise in the form of Rose Tyler's permanent return to their universe. Their reunion is soured by the realization that the reasons and the resultant behavior he'd used to keep himself from being with Rose before his metacrisis came along (and he realized how STUPID he'd been) have painted a picture of himself in Rose's head that he's going to have to destroy if he wants a chance at happiness with the woman he'd fallen in love with well before he regenerated into a man that was "born" loving her.What a mess.
Series: Getting What They Want [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2123919
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	He Had His Reasons... And They Were Soooo Stupid

“Hey, Dad? I think I might be in trouble. Something in the air doesn’t feel right. My hair’s standing up on end.”

“What’s going on?”

The Doctor tugged on his jacket just in case something actually WAS going on this time and Jack wasn’t just messing with Jenny again to get a laugh out of her.

“I can't explain it. Something doesn’t feel right, Dad.”

Her breathing switched from being the panting of a woman running to being the sharp inhalations of someone afraid. He sat up straight. A smothered cry sounded through the phone and he waited two long seconds but she didn’t say anything.

“Jenny?”

“Something really weird just happened. Oh, no, I think they’re following me. Dad, please help me.”

He nearly dropped his phone onto the grating as he jolted out of the seat and ran for the door at a sprint. He heard the door slam behind him.

“I'm coming, Jenny. Where are you?”

“Torchwood. Uncle Jack is still at work and I was gonna hang out until he was ready to go home.”

“Are you inside now?”

“Yeah.” Panting, he slowed to a walk and sucked in a deep breath. “Dad, I know there was someone following me. Wait, they’re–” Jenny paused and whispered hoarsely, “oh, my god, they’re inside.”

He chuckled. “Calm down, Jenny. Jack’s likely just hired someone else.”

“I’ve never seen them before. How did they get in?”

“Well, an employee would know how to gain access to-”

The Doctor heard a loud alarm both over the phone and around him right before their call ended without any sort of warning. So it WAS an intruder. Not good. He turned tail and bolted back towards the TARDIS.

That would be the only way he’d be getting down there now.

Once inside, the alarms shut off rather abruptly and then everything stayed bone-chillingly silent. Tamping down on his fear and anxiety, he quietly made his way around and looked for any sign of his daughter or Jack.

A cry came from down below – that was Jack! – and his footsteps pounding against the floor as he ran drowned out the sound of anything else that was happening. Mentally, he connected with Jenny and felt her distress, her perplexity, but most importantly, he felt HER. She was alright for now. She’d be staying that way, too, even if it killed him. Literally if need be.

On the main floor below, he paused outside of the main room where Jack and his staff worked, felt his respiratory bypass kick in, and he quickly tapped into Jenny’s mind once more to gauge how he should proceed. Until he knew what he was facing, he didn’t want to risk opening a direct mental connection. Tapping her emotions, however, wouldn’t draw attention to them.

Relief. Still confusion. Surprise. He frowned and cocked his head. Surprise? More relief? Alright. Clearly no one was in danger. He decided to risk it.

 _Are you safe?_ he asked within Jenny’s mind. He smiled at the answering happiness she felt. _I'm here. Was Jack playing a trick? Should I go?_

_No, don’t go. Uncle Jack wanted me to call you but I said you were coming._

_Is everything okay? What will I be walking into?_

He needed to be prepared in case his daughter and his friend were being held by people who would shortly live to regret threatening HIS child. Then again, there was the surprise and relief. Not a foe, then, probably.

_Uncle Jack says everything’s perfect now and you shouldn’t worry. Should kiss him, actually, when you get here. He winked, which makes me think I should be worrying about you two._

He briefly flashed back to life when Jack was living on the TARDIS. Rose had actually giggled the first time she’d seen Jack steal a kiss from him. He’d been rendered speechless by that first surprise kiss. She’d thought it was funny and that had naturally encouraged Jack to do it more. Oh, Rose. He sighed and toed the baseboard in front of him.

_It’s certainly nothing as bad as you’re thinking, my dear._

_I don’t wanna know. About anyone. Ever._ He could FEEL her distaste and he almost snickered. _Everything’s good and we’re all safe. Will you come? Uncle Jack just said you really need to get here. Like now._

His brows furrowed. _I'm right outside the doors. Coming._

_HURRY._

That was worrisome but she didn’t seem distressed so he leisurely strolled through the door and looked over at Jack, Jenny, and the ‘intruder’ with a curious smile. His tummy dropped down to somewhere near his knees, his toe caught the heel of his other trainer, and he quite spectacularly fell into a pile of bags, bounced twice as he rolled over the lot, and felt the world spin around three separate times as he cleared the mess and rolled ever closer to the three people standing in the middle of the room. He came to rest on his back and stared up in awe.

“Jesus,” Jack laughed. “That was the most dramatic reaction I think I’ve ever seen from anybody in my whole, long ass life.”

“Are you okay?” Jenny asked. “I mean, that was just dumb.”

He disregarded both of them, popped up to his feet, and stared at the blond beside Jack. He breathed raggedly and reached out a hand to stroke her cheek. Rose Tyler.

“R-Ro-Rose, it’s you?”

Jenny gasped. “THE Rose?”

Another pulse of happiness coursed through the mental connection he had with Jenny and he smiled while closing it up once more.

“Hi,” she said joyfully, tears leaking from her eyes. “It’s me, yeah.”

A somewhat loud groan of joy escaping him, he folded her into his arms and could just make out the sounds of her crying as she pressed her face into his shirtfront and clenched at the back of his shirt. A smile born purely of bliss stole across his lips and he inhaled sharply through his nose, enjoying the sweet smell of her hair.

“Please tell me this isn’t about the stars,” he murmured to her temple. “Please tell me something went wrong and you managed to make it back because you would be happier here. Rose, please tell me.”

“Something went wrong and I managed to make it back because I would be happier here,” Rose said dutifully, voice thick. He frowned, leaned only his shoulders away from her because he couldn’t seem to make himself step back, and gave her a look. “Your human self – John over there, naturally – is a bit more like Donna than you, I think.”

“What happened?” He shook his head. “Better, HOW are you here? And how is this universe not trying to crumble?”

“A miracle. I swear we're perfectly fine and the universe is going to be okay. Nothing's wrong. I’ll tell you about it sometime.”

The Doctor looked her over, groaned again, and wrapped her back up.

“Whatever happened, I'm so happy. Rose, I…”

Rose sobbed and he nodded. She knew what he was trying to say. She’d always known, right?

“They’re gonna be doing this for a while,” he heard Jack say. “Come on. Ianto’s got some tea somewhere. You like tea, right?”

“Sure! Will he be okay?”

“Trust me, kid, he’s great. Let’s go. In case you’re actually paying attention, Doc, we’re gonna go get some tea.”

He gave Jack some sort of vague nod and felt Rose turn her head. She must have watched them go because as soon as the door shut, she began to speak.

“Who is that? A new companion?”

“My daughter.”

“Ah, right. She’s very pretty.”

“Yes, she is. She’s a gorgeous little thing.” Rose sniffed and he rubbed her back. “I'm so glad you’re back. Are you – Will you want to come back – Er, I mean, you don’t have to but you still have your room onboard and…”

“Be a bit crowded, don’t you think?” His brows furrowed. “Maybe I’ll stay with Jack for a while. I wouldn’t want to get in the way or anything.”

“Who do you think you’ll be getting in the way of?” She wasn’t letting go and he stopped trying to lean back once more to see her again. He was fine with her holding him. He rather preferred it to NOT being as close to her as he could. “The TARDIS has plenty of room for all of us. You know that.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have a daughter then.” She paused and added, “Some women wouldn’t appreciate having another woman being brought onboard to live with them in what is essentially their home.”

“Jenny won't mind,” he said, nonplussed. “Where is this coming from? You weren’t worried about this when we brought Jack onboard, were you?”

“No, I wasn’t but I wasn’t sleeping in your bed, either.”

“Neither does my daughter,” he said slowly, pausing after each word. “She’s not a child. She has her own bedroom, Rose.”

“I wasn’t talking about your daughter.”

“What – Then who the hell have we been talking about? I'm so confused.”

Rose unfortunately pulled back enough to see him and gave him a look that made him feel he was as stupid as she was probably thinking he was. He honestly, though, couldn’t fathom what she was talking about if not his daughter.

“Jenny’s mum, Doctor. I wouldn’t be okay with the man in my life wanting someone else to live with me in my home.”

He spluttered a moment. “Her mum?”

“Yeah. We may just be friends but she might not like me hanging around all the time.” She shrugged. “I hope we can still take trips together from time to time. If I don’t stay, maybe it’ll be okay.”

She had never been just a friend to him. She KNEW that. He shook his head when he realized what she might be doing. Bless her for being so wonderful. Was she trying to give him an out?

“You think I have a woman socked away on the TARDIS who I fathered a child with? Please tell me you’re joking.”

“It’s an established fact the Doctor does, in fact, dance. You made that very clear when you were my first Doctor.”

He’d done that for HER. He wanted her to know they weren’t all that different despite them being different species. He’d already been so infatuated back then.

“Jenny’s an adult,” he said pointedly. “Don’t you think you would have seen her around?”

“You're a time traveler, Doctor. I don’t know how long it’s actually been since you’ve seen me.”

He stared at her. She really thought he would have been able to move on from her when her leaving with his metacrisis had broken his hearts? She had to know getting over her wouldn’t have been easy. Certainly not while he was still in THIS body. He’d been born loving her. He thought he’d made that clear.

“Rose, it hasn’t been that long since you left.” He chuckled a bit mirthlessly. “I still look exactly the same.”

“You’re also an alien, Doctor,” she said softly. “I’ve never gotten to see you age. For all I know, it takes you two or three times as long as humans.”

“I think your favorite mug is still sitting out in the galley. It’s not been long at all. So, I mean, do you think this random woman has been tucked off in some distant part of the TARDIS and you just miraculously never met her? I told you my children were all gone. I wouldn’t have said that if Jenny had been alive. I wouldn’t have…”

Fallen in love with her if there had been someone else.

Rose smiled. “No, I don’t. I guess you just found out about her, then. It’s hardly surprising. It’d be hard to tell you about a baby being on the way since you’re always running off saving one planet or exploring another, though I am really curious to know how… ‘cause you can't… Anyways, however it happened, probably didn’t get your number before you left.”

That hurt as much as a Jackie Tyler slap to the face.

“You think I slept with a woman I met on a trip somewhere and left her in the family way.”

“Well, not – That’s not what I'm saying. Even if – No, you wouldn’t do that or at least not on purpose. You’re not a bad man, Doctor.”

He could not believe this.

“So, I saw a beautiful woman and decided to throw her skirts up for a little bit of fun? Did I know her name _before_ or _after_ I put my clothing back on?”

Rose frowned. “Don’t be upset. I wasn’t being mean. I understand. You’re handsome and you enjoy the attention. You always have.” He narrowed his eyes, disbelief coursing through him, and Rose shook her head. “Please don’t get mad.”

“I'm not mad. I'm simply trying to understand how you see me. Do I often run off and shag random women while I'm supposed to be saving the day? Is that when it happens?”

“Doctor.” She rubbed her hand on his chest. “I didn’t mean to make you mad. It’s not like you do it on purpose or anything. Someone will just catch your eye. I mean, Reinette comes to mind immediately.”

“Wasn’t that around the time Mickey was onboard and sleeping right next door to you?”

“You look angry and I didn’t mean to do that. Especially right now. I didn’t want to make you angry or anything. I only meant to explain how you could have had a baby and I'm just now meeting her, though I mean, I'm still not sure how that even… Not that it’s really any of my business, of course.”

“Rose, Jenny doesn’t have a mother. She was created in a primitive birthing chamber.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I also don’t make it a habit to run around shagging every anonymous woman I find attractive.” Rose gave him an amused look, one brow arched, and he forced out a small and slightly irritated-sounding chuckle. “Much, but I'm not the only one who’s done it, Rose.”

“Sweetie, it’s none of my business. I mean, we’re friends and you don’t owe me any explanations. If we had ever… We were really great best friends, though, right?”

This was a mess. He’d never considered her just a friend, had rather fancied her to be a lot more well before he’d regenerated, and he thought she’d felt the same way. He’d showed her time and again how much she meant to him but perhaps it HAD needed saying.

He felt it was too late now. He had just left her with a human version of himself in an entirely different universe and she clearly had an image of him in mind that would take a while for him to replace with a more devoted, less cringey, more committed – dare he think monogamous? – version.

“Rose, I…”

He wanted – no, needed – to apologize if him running off had hurt her but he didn’t know how. He’d explained away his choices back when by telling himself they weren’t even together so why shouldn’t he have some fun? Most of the time, there was the added bonus of Rose being jealous of whichever bird he’d chosen.

He also wanted to go back and slap some sense into himself. Had he realized he was doing more harm than good, he would have stopped.

Well, no, maybe not. He’d had his reasons for never actually making anything official with them. Her leaving with his metacrisis had made him see that never making a move on her due to her shorter lifespan and blah blah blah was so stupid.

He would start over and this time, she WOULD know how much he loved her and he most definitely didn’t want her to ever again be left waiting for him to finish venting his frustrations into some other woman’s body.

Rose was staring up at him thoughtfully and he gave her a hopeful smile when she hummed.

“How about we start fresh? Well, fresh-ish. We can pretend none of that other stuff in the past ever happened. The running off, me sleeping with Jack, Adam, and Mickey onboard, this conversation, my misunderstanding about Jenny. All of it erased. Just us going on adventures, having fun all over the universe, saving people, and being best friends.”

He perked up. “Really? You’d really forget it all? That sounds great.”

But wait. He hoped that didn’t include all the times he’d tried to show her exactly how much of a large part of his hearts she held.

“It does.” Rose smiled. “Hello, Doctor, nice to meet you.” He shook her hand, brows furrowing, and she grinned. “My, this ship’s bigger on the inside. Oh, no, game station. Jesus, you’re a different man. But wait, you’re still my Doctor.”

He smiled widely when he caught on to what she was doing. Arms going around her, the Doctor picked her up and hugged her tightly.

She laughed joyfully and held onto his lower back. He kissed her temple, slowly lowered her back to her feet, and swallowed. He took his time ending his kiss and heard her hum again, happily this time, when he pressed his cheek to her temple and sighed into her hair.

“I'm so happy you’ve come back, Rose. You do still want to live, er, I mean to travel on the TARDIS, right?”

“Of course, silly. That’s my home.” He smiled happily and then leaned back to see her. “And I look forward to getting to know your daughter and vice versa.”

“She already knows all about you. I hope you two get along.”

“Me, too.” Rose started looping her hands and arms around the handles of her bags and he quickly did the same, soon going further by stealing the bags she’d already gathered herself. “Since I didn’t get to say it the last time we saw each other… I love you, Doctor.”

“Quite right to.” She rolled her eyes, smiling fondly, and stooped down to pick up the items he’d dragged with him when he’d taken his dramatic spill earlier. He couldn’t grab her but he did tap his shoe against hers, which made her look back up at him. “Wait, Rose. I wanted to say it this time. I... I do love you. I'm sorry I didn’t get to tell you.”

Her English words, words her people threw around carelessly, weren’t enough to really convey the depth of his emotion, but they were the words she understood. One day, perhaps he could teach her the words that truly encapsulated exactly how he felt for her, but then again, would she ever understand?

“I knew but it’s nice to hear.”

“You did know?”

“Of course. You died for me and I almost did the same for you. If that doesn’t scream best friends, I don’t know what does.” He sagged and she finally got the last of her items gathered up as she looked up. “I’ve known you love me for a while.”

Yes, he left her with a human version OF HIMSELF because he considered her merely his best friend. He’d really screwed things up for himself here, hadn’t he?

“Yes, you’re forever my plus one.”

“And you’re mine,” she said with a sweet smile that melted his hearts. “Let’s go find Jack and your daughter. I'm sure they’re wondering if we ran off without them.”

“We could. Jack wouldn’t blink if we wanted a little alone time for a proper reunion together.”

He held his breath and she chuckled. That wasn’t the reaction he was going for when he was finally trying to make some sort of move on her. Oh, but no, it was premature. Too soon. He was never very good with patience. That was a thing he needed.

“If you want to go on an adventure to celebrate, we can take your daughter and even Jack if he wants. I don’t want you to feel like you have to choose between her and me. She’s your daughter and I'm just your friend.”

“You’re not JUST my friend, Rose.”

She smiled gently. “You’re right. I'm your best friend. You’re mine, too, Doctor, and as your best friend, I'm not gonna demand you spend extra time with me. Do you understand what I'm saying?”

He sighed. This was gonna be hard trying to make her see the depth of his emotion if she continued to act this oblivious to what he was telling her. He did just say she wasn’t just his friend. Most people would understand what he was saying. Not Rose, though.

He had his work cut out for him.

“You're right, Rose. Thanks for making me see what you’re saying,” he said with just a bit of an edge because it rankled she wasn’t getting it. “Jenny is very important to me, but so are you. I’ll endeavor to spend equal time with my daughter and my best friend.”

No, he didn’t sound bitter at all. Rose laughed.

“Doctor, you’re gonna have to get over the domestics of being a dad again. We’d made so much progress before…” She shook her head. “Just before. You were turning into such a family man. Thing’s couldn’t have regressed that much in the time I was gone.”

Yes, that was why he sounded so unenthused. Was she messing with him? No one could be this blind. He’d left her with his metacrisis for God’s sake! That was as good as a declaration. ‘Here, since I can't stay with you, take a man that is basically me who can live the rest of his life loving you the way I cannot.’

He envied that other bastard for a second. He’d had a legitimate chance with Rose and he’d blown it somehow. Then again, maybe he had, as well, and he’d done the same thing. He sighed deeply. Yep. Sounds about right.

“Sorry, Rose.” He gave her a small smile. “Guess I'm still stuck in my past self’s headspace. I’ll get over it when I catch back up to the present.”

“Good. Now let’s go find your daughter. I'm eager to meet her.”

The Doctor watched her take two steps away and shook his head. He was such a dunce. He had his work cut out for him, that was for sure.

Fantastic.


End file.
